Thursday, May 14, 2015

How Live Tweeting an Event Can Help Your Business

When you think social media, there should be about 3 different names that pop into your head without hesitation. The first, and most obvious, is Facebook. Then you might think Instagram. Last, but certainly not least, would be Twitter. Twitter is quickly dominating the social media playing field when it comes to businesses staying connected with potential clientele. Gone are the days of staying at your computer and liking comments to get noticed by hopeful customers. Now, it's become more pertinent to use Twitter as the main vehicle for any business trying to get a leg up on the competition, especially if said business is just starting out.

What do most small businesses do to help get noticed and delve into proper networking? Attend any type of business event they can, of course. One of the best ways to help your networking and grow your audience is by simply live tweeting.

What is live-tweeting? Simple. Tweeting about what people are saying, doing, and just talking about the event as it unfolds.

Some of the best ways to use live-tweeting to your advantage is through audience targeting. Twitter has this lovely little feature called hashtags. By using these hashtags and letting your followers know to use the same hashtag in order to maintain conversation about the event and its keynotes, you're building your audience. Also, make sure to rewrite your bio in order to have it coincide with the event. Maybe even use the event's hashtag to you can hit the largest number from the event audience.

Why not offer a free download of some sort, or some kind of giveaway with the link on a tweet with the event's hashtag? Have attendees go to your booth in order to redeem. There's also the idea of having the giveaway involve retweets or favorites. This alone will increase your engagement with event attendees. Just make sure that you're keeping the tweets short, sweet, and to the point. You could even tweet your own content, like pictures, comments, and quotes.

It also never hurts to show off exactly what your brand's services are as well. Just be sure you're not spamming so that your followers don't get bogged down. Creating a quick YouTube video promoting your services or creating a quick image that shows bullet points or your service in action would be a great way to spread your brand.

A company can use the buzz generated by the live-tweeting to bring attention to a contest or even a big announcement from said company. Again, using the event's hashtag will help your tweet get to the largest targeted audience.

Try catching the attention of both journalists and speakers alike at the event. If you can grab the attention of these journalists, adding them to a private twitter list can help you to find their tweets more easily on your twitter feed. If they tweet something relevant to the event or trade show, make sure to retweet it! Sometimes, you can contact the event organizer to get a hold of the list of bloggers or reporters that will be in attendance.

Any large influences or speakers at this years convention? Live-tweet their speeches. Tweeting these speeches as they're happening will not only provide information to those attending and not attending, but also catch the attention of the speakers themselves. Just make sure you use their proper twitter handle when you do so. If you're lucky, they might event retweet your tweet to their audience, thus giving your brand a bit more headway.

If you're feeling risky, you can even tweet at an influences to see if you can grab an interview with them. This helps grow connections between your business and the speakers. Growing these relationships early on can become crucial to a small business.

It's imperative that you have a Twitter plan going into any event. Live tweeting an event can really help your business and while having a laptop or a smartphone with you at the event will help you still can't do it alone. You're going to need a team to make it happen accordingly. So, the next event or trade show that your business attends, make sure to live-tweet during it and sit back and watch as your brand starts to flourish.